Ultimate Learn Cantonese Beginners Kit!

What is the first thing you do when you want to learn a new skill? My answer is to find resources. Just enter a few keywords and a reliable search engine would spit out thousands of results. This is where the problem lies. Which of these thousands of results is effective, efficient, and reliable? Inspirlang recognized this problem with learning Cantonese. So, here it is, an ultimate beginners kit for learning Cantonese! A short list of reliable and effective resources and a sample study plan that you can merge into your daily life is given below. 

Jyutping

As many of you might know, Chinese uses a combination of symbols (strokes) to form many different characters. Chinese is one of the languages that does not have an alphabet. Therefore, to make it easier for others to learn the language, scholars came up with tonal romanizations. For Mandarin there is Pinyin (mainland) and Bopomofo (Taiwan), and for Cantonese there are Jyutping and Yale, along with many other non-mainstream Romanizations that were invented. Inspirlang uses Jyutping for our courses and it is also the romanization we recommend self-learners use. Jyutping is used more in newer resources and materials today. It is also easier to type and for students to use due to the tonal numerizations.

Jyutping would be the first thing we recommend you learn. It would help you build a great foundation to understand and remember vocabulary and pronunciations you will learn afterwards. The following two youtube resources can give you a good understanding of Jyutping. 

Learn Jyutping (Cantonese romanization system): https://youtu.be/OhkhU2KSFlg

Jade made this video a few years ago as a beginners resource to self learn Cantonese. The video explains all the basics of the pronunciation system you need to know.

Beginner Cantonese phrases (with Jyutping): Learn Cantonese with Cartoons!! #CantoneseWithBrittany

This is a series of animations that teaches basic conversational Cantonese. They are short and easy to watch during small breaks throughout the day. This can help you get used to using Jyutping and the tones for pronunciation.

Books

Once you have Jyutping down you can start expanding your vocabulary to conversational Cantonese. The following books are easy to start with. 

Learn to Speak Cantonese 1: https://old.inspirlang.com/lovecanto

This book is the first book Jade wrote. The best feature is that the lessons come as a part of a cute story.  Learning is easier when it is entertaining. The book revolves around the story of Gabriel and his girlfriend, Jenny. Gabriel, an American boy, goes through a journey of learning Cantonese to communicate with Jenny’s family. Many daily vocabulary and conversational phrases are included.

Cantonese for Everyone: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=llc9EAAAQBAJ&pli=1 

This book is greatly recommended for teachers to use to teach Cantonese beginners. Of course, this symbolizes that it is also great for self-learners. If you are in New York, then you can buy it at the Eastern Bookstore. Eastern bookstore’s website (https://www.easternbooknyc.com/) also has it available for sale. We also found the newest e-book version on Google Play Books.

Important Note: Amazon’s price might be much higher than the price sold at Eastern Bookstore. 

Video Lessons (Story Book Series)

https://old.inspirlang.com/course/bubbletea/ 

This is a delicious and entertaining series that can bring you out of a learning curve stump. You know when you start learning a new skill and there were many times where you got bored to a point where you wanted to give up. Yup, a great solution is finding the fun in learning the new skill. This story book series may be exactly what you need when you are getting demotivated on your learn Cantonese journey. This series incorporates culture and food into vocabulary lessons to keep things interesting. It teaches you how to make traditional bubble tea and different types of bubble tea flavors you can order the next time you go to a boba shop. A sweet treat can really be the solution to the problem for all our fellow foodies out there. 

Podcasts

In all honesty, how many of us have the time to study a new language with work and school going on? Well, the best thing we can do is utilize the fragments of free time in between our daily tasks. Podcasts are great tools we can utilize to maximize these fragments of time. A coffee break or bathroom break? Listen to a couple of phrases. Commuting or stuck in traffic? Listen to some simple conversations. These small efforts will add up, and before you know, you can understand some basic conversations.

Learn Cantonese Daily: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbnNwaXJpbmdqYWRlLnBvZG9tYXRpYy5jb20vcnNzMi54bWw

Learn Cantonese Daily is purely phrases and terms that are used very commonly throughout daily conversations. We have the first 50 episodes of the transcript for free on our website (https://old.inspirlang.com/courses/). It is suitable to listen to during daily chores or commutes. Go check it out!

Apps

One of the best ways to study and memorize what you have learned is to put your knowledge to the test. Language learning apps can provide you with quizzes and small tests to see if you have absorbed what you’ve learned. The two apps below are good options to check out.

Drop: https://languagedrops.com/language/learn-cantonese 

Ling App: https://bit.ly/3xhebFE

Sample study plan

1. Understand and get used to using Jyutping within 2 months
2. Understand basic phrases using books and apps (have a small goal like have a simple Cantonese conversation with someone within 1 month)
3. Use story book lesson as a fun motivation boost (make a cup of bubble tea at home as a treat)
4. Listen to podcasts for 10 minutes a day using fragments of time. 

Aside from these beginner resources, there are much more Inspirlang has to offer. Books, videos, and transcripts are available for you to choose from. We have materials all the way up to an advanced level. If you are not confident in the effectiveness of self-learning, we have many class live courses you can attend. All classes are held online through zoom. There are a bunch of time ranges to choose from for every level. Check out more resources by clicking on the images below!